Emotions, Interaction and the Injured Sporting Body

Abstract

Based on a collaborative autoethnographic research project, this article explores the emotional dimension of the injured sporting body. It takes as its analytic focus the journey, rehabilitative, emotional and narrative, of two middle-aged, non-elite, middle/long-distance runners who experienced serious, long-term knee injuries. The study examines the interactional and narrative elements of the rehabilitative journey, focusing on dimensions of the emotion management, emotion work, and emotional intersubjectivity of the researcher/author and her training partner as they struggled to contend with the liminality of the injured athletic role, and to maintain positive identities in the face of serious threat to their running selves.